What are Brand Guidelines? (And why do we need them?)
Gaining the attention of your customers can seem like an uphill battle with the amount of information they receive each day. There are two keys that will help you win that battle: Clarity and Consistency.
Every part of your business needs to be clearly defined and talked about in the exact same way every time. How do you do that?
Enter - Brand Guidelines.
Brand guidelines are like a north star guiding your entire company in the same direction. There are a few primary things I think should be in every companies’ brand guidelines and that’s what I want to discuss today.
Verbal Branding
The one thing that will help your business growth is making sure everyone uses the same words every time. Imagine if one person at Nike said, “Just accomplish it” and another said “Go do it” and someone else “Just do something.” How strong would their brand be? Not very.
When I talk about clarity and consistency in your verbal branding though I’m not just talking about your slogan. Everyone from your C-suite to your sales team to your marketing department to your janitor needs to be able to say exactly what problem you solve and how you are the solution to that problem.
Your website needs to be in line with your social media, which need to align with your videos, which need to align with your print material.
Another beneficial piece in regards to verbal branding is the tone of voice you use. Is your brand professional? Casual? Lots of jokes? Do you curse? Having the same tone everywhere customers read copy from you will increase the likelihood of a customer connecting and doing business with you.
Visual Branding
This is what most people think of when they think of “branding.” Your logo, fonts, colors, pictures you use should always be consistent.
A good thing to do is give use cases for different variations of your logo. How your logo should look on a light background or a dark background. When your logo should be seen with or without the slogan.
You also want to provide the exact hex code for your brand colors and files for your brand fonts. These seem like small things, but they make a huge difference. If a color is slightly wrong your customer may not be able to pinpoint exactly what is wrong, but they’ll know it feels “off” and will lose a little bit of trust in your brand. Do this too many times and they’ll ignore you completely.
Real life and stock photography are abundant and you want to make sure they all look consistent. Do you always put a specific filter on your pictures? Do you only ever show smiling people using your product? Is there a specific age demographic you always want represented? Every brand will have a different feel, make sure every image you use is in line with who you are.
Why do you need brand guidelines?
Many people might initially think brand guidelines are restrictive, but really they offer freedom to create. It’s like the key of a song or the boundaries of a sport. When you venture outside these it creates confusion. But playing within creates a whole host of new opportunities, opportunities where designers, marketers, content creators don’t have to worry about if they did it right or not. They’ll know as long as they played within the guidelines it’s permissible.
Brand guidelines also make your brand stronger. They prevent well-intentioned but inconsistent variations that could dilute your brand's recognition and impact. A strong adherence to brand guidelines ensures that your brand maintains a unified presence in the market, enhancing your credibility and attraction. (Clarity and consistency!)
Brand guidelines ultimately create freedom. Freedom for creation within your company and freedom for customers to truly connect with your brand. And when customers feel connected to your brand, they’ll share about your brand.
Know what happens when they feel connected and share? Your business grows!
